I kinda like being comfortable. I like it when things are ordered and moving along as planned. It is nice when things move along smoothly. Do you like it when things are comfortable and ordered and all seems good?
Yet it is dangerous to live on cruise control. When we are just cruising down the rut it is sometimes hard to see what is going on outside of our little trench. And isn’t a little excitement OK sometimes? Isn’t it invigorating to feel the tension of the unknown or the “what if”?
In John 14 Jesus states that He is the way, the truth, and the life. To know Jesus is to know God. It raises the question in my mind: how well do I know Jesus? Do I really know enough of Him? Or am I on cruise in my relationship with Jesus? Or do I read the Word with questions? How will I know Him better today? How will this word cause me to grow? To trust Him more?
No one is ” there” yet. All of us have room to grow, to know Him better, to trust Him more. To seek these things brings us to the edge of the unknown. Step out – it’s kinda exciting out here.
Tag Archives: grow
From the Heart
What one word would you use to sum up who Jesus was and is? Would it be messiah or savior or healer or king? True, He is all of these. For me, the word would be love.
What are the keys to our faith? Is it worship, giving our tithe, serving on a committee, maybe helping with the Youth program? Certainly all of these are means to growing in our faith, but according to Peter, the key is to love one another and to love God.
What if each day we evaluated our faith journey through the question: ‘Am I loving God and neighbor more deeply from the heart?’ Sometimes this is hard to evaluate on a daily basis, but I think if we spent some time thinking on this question, we will find the little ways in which we did love more deeply from the heart.
If we spend hours reading and studying our Bible, are faithful in attending worship and in our giving, and if we serve here or there – we can please God and we may grow in our faith. But if we are doing these things out of duty or obligation but not out of love, we are lost. We are lost because although we may grow in our faith, the love doesn’t spill out for God and into other people’s lives. We must lovingly give ourselves away to truly grow deeper in our faith.
One Things Remains
Do we live a comfortable faith? Do we live our faith without too many fears? I think we can. But we can choose to live a risky and dangerous faith too.
We can choose to play it safe. Even though we pour ourselves out in Sunday morning worship and are quite devoted in our quiet, personal times with God, we choose not to risk out in public. We can be a “good” person at work at school, … but not necessarily be a Christian there. Isn’t it easy?
Should faith be easy? In 1 Peter 1 we are told that our trials and tests will refine and purify our faith. Easy doesn’t refine and purify. Easy coasts. Easy is comfortable. Easy is stagnant. Easy doesn’t lead others to Christ.
May our faith be risky, dangerous, bold. May our faith be living, exciting, growing. Because even in the trials one thing remains. His love never fails. His love never ends. His love never gives up on us. May we not live an easy faith.
pastorjohnb 